WHEN and HOW.
Air paradise 19 aug from Perth.Would definately fly them again. They had the paradise class on this trip.$100 to Bali. 16 seats available. You get the same food but wider seats and priority baggage and of course those extra kilos for the shopping.
VOA and TAXI.
Paid in aussie dollars and were able to take advantage of the new 6 day visa as we only went for 4 nights Immediate saving of approx $30. ( MORE shopping money!!)Fixed price taxi to hotel was 30,000rp.
Could'nt believe the cool breeze blowing when we walked to the taxi as we have been previously when much hotter.
KUTA PARADISO.
Out of the airport and checking in exactly 1 hour after arrival.Lovely freezing cold fruit cocktail at reception.We had a georgous room overlooking the pool on the 3rd floor and could hear the waves crashing at the beach. Gigantic king size bed thats soooo much wider than at home. Polished wooden floors and a lovely statue just inside the door on a pedastal with a big mirror behind it.Parked at the front of the hotel are a red ferrari, 2 audi tts and a volkswagon beetle with the biggest guards i've seen. A jaguar also appeared during our stay. These cars belong to the japanese owner of the hotel.At one stage we came back to find the audis gone and was informed the owners daughter was there on holidays.We had great fun joking with the staff and kept asking for them to get the keys and to bring our car around.
SHOPPING.
Hubby had the clothes he was wearing and some boardies.So after freshening up we hit the kuta markets(A whole 50 metre walk).2 pairs of shorts and a t shirt and we were on our way.Then straight to Bata shoes for some leather sandals for hubby.$19 on sale.He still has the pair he bought in bali 4 years ago and they are still going strong. they are like colorados but called weinbrenners.To get to the bata shop walk towards hard rock from mataharis and turn right at the t junction it is just on the left. Another one is in legian about opposite where the other matahari used to be.
Next we went to optik Melawai and had a quick look at the range of glasses. heaps to choose from and the staff were friendly but not pushy.We wanted to check out the other stores so went back to the hotel and changed before heading to the discovery mall.
Now i know why everyone was talking about breadtalk. The SMELL is divine.We watched as people piled there plates up with cakes and rolls etc. We got some cheese breadsticks but we both agreed the smell was better than the taste.In fact they were pretty tasteless. But so many people rave about the cakes and they looked beautiful.
We went to the optic shops in the mall but decided to go back to optic melawai opposite our hotel. I got my eyes tested for free and chose 2 pairs of glasses.One reading and one prescription sunnies.These cost me $63 each and a pair of sunnies for $19.My friend who worked for opsm couldnt believe the glasses and nearly cried when she saw my sunnies.
Hubby got a quote for his transition lenses. These take approx 7 days to make. We had 4, so they wrote all the details down as his parents are going in oct and will take his frames over and get new lenses. These will save us approx $278 on the lenses alone.
We headed back for a swim and couldnt believe how much colder the pools can get at this time of the year. But it was very refreshing.
We had dinner at the dynasty as we stayed there in nov and hubby loves the hot stone steaks and i love the brushetta. Our meal with drinks and a pasta dish as well cost us $18. and we were very happy with that.
In the next JBR we will tell you about out water features and statues etc that we bought.And just how many umbal umbals do you need!!